Sox send Lance Lynn to IL with strained trapezius originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The current era of good feelings in the White Sox starting rotation came to a bit of a screeching halt Sunday.
The team announced between games of Sunday's doubleheader in Boston that Lance Lynn has a strained right trapezius and went on the 10-day injured list.
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Lynn, arguably the White Sox most important addition during the offseason, was stellar in his first three starts of the season. He allowed a couple of unearned runs in his White Sox debut in Anaheim, then returned to the South Side to twirl a complete-game shutout in the home opener. He took the loss against the Cleveland Indians on Thursday but still went six innings and allowed just two runs, both scoring on a José Ramírez homer.
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Lynn has 27 strikeouts in 19.2 innings of work.
But he'll be sidelined for at least 10 days, potentially forcing the White Sox to find a replacement in the starting rotation.
If Lynn's absence is expected to be brief, the White Sox could use a couple upcoming off days — one Thursday and one the following Monday — to their advantage. If not, they might need to dip into their starting-pitching depth early. The team opted not to include a traditional long reliever on their Opening Day roster and instead have Reynaldo López, Jonathan Stiever and Jimmy Lambert continue to work as starters in the minor leagues.
Stiever was brought up as the 27th man for Sunday's doubleheader in Boston, an option to start the second game had the first required heavy bullpen usage. It didn't, and Tony La Russa tabbed Michael Kopech to start, his first big league start since 2018. Kopech, though, was limited to three innings from the jump by the South Side skipper and might not be an option to plug in Lynn's spot in the rotation as a traditional starter, should that be necessary, as the White Sox work the fireballer back from two missed seasons.
White Sox starting pitching has been generally great so far in 2021, with Lynn a big part of why the rotation's 2.61 ERA was the best in the American League as of this writing. Losing him would be a challenge, but the emergence of Carlos Rodón and the continued hyping of Dylan Cease should give the team confidence to keep things afloat for however long Lynn is on the mend.
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